Committee to ask voters to approve Mill Levy Override

By Iva Kay Horner Publisher/Editor

Posted:
04/15/2014 08:11:09 AM MDT

Updated:
04/15/2014 08:12:31 AM MDT

With recent budget cuts of $550,000 bringing the Brush School District down to what Superintendent of Schools Dr. Michelle Johnstone refers to as "bare bones", a group of concerned staff and community members have joined forces to form a Mill Levy Override (MLO) committee.In its first meeting, held last Tuesday, members of the group agreed to form a question asking voters in the Brush School District to approve a $1.1 million MLO with a Sunset provision at six years that coincides with the district's properties being paid off. Without the addition of a Sunset provision Dr. Johnstone explained, the district would have to go back to the voters in a number of years. "We're finding a greater success of putting a sunset provision in," she told the committee.According to Dr. Johnstone, 22 staff positions have been eliminated in the past four years due to budget cuts. She also explained that $6.2 million in funding, including the upcoming school year, has been lost by the district. This information, and much more, she continued, can be found on the district's website at http://www.brushschools.org/.The committee is asking for $1.1 million, which, if passed by voters, would allow the district to potentially maintain the programs currently offered and retain stability for the next five years, Dr. Johnstone explained.If the proposed MLO passes, the district would begin receiving funds in January that would help offset costs.

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In figuring an amount for the mill levy, committee members noted that residents currently pay $37 per $100,000 on residential property for East Morgan County Hospital, and $28 per $100,000 for the East Morgan County Library District.While a suggestion of $30 per $100,000 was made, it was explained that amount would not reach the $1.1 million which covers the $550,000 reduced in this year's budget, as well as the $550,000 that will need to be made in the next school year.To reach the proposed $1.1 million, voters will be asked to approve $44 per $100,000 in residential property, with business owners at $159 per $100,000."I strongly feel that if we just cut programs, people are going to drive their kids somewhere else and our property values will go down," Lisa Uhrig stated, adding, "You either pay for it now or pay for it later. That's the message that we need to get out there. We all have a stake here.""There is no other way to do this other than an MLO," Uhrig commented, explaining the district is unable to ask for sales tax monies."It can't be just us doing it, there have to be other communities doing this as well," John Sweenie commented.According to the superintendent, there is pressure for the State of Colorado to take over the all day, every day kindergarten program. Should that happen, the $250,000 now in the Brush community for the program would be reduced and the current $250,000 MLO would disappear. "We don't know where the state is going to come in on that yet," she stated, adding that information should be available by the time legislators adjourn in May.The superintendent also noted that the Brush Board of Education has held a steady constant for mills. "It has worked to our advantage because when we did the bond refinance, we saved $560,000 in interest which shortened our time of pay off from 7 1/2 to five years."Using public feedback from a survey conducted last year, Dr. Johnstone said, "It gave us the opportunity to get out and communicate. We used that information to structure community meetings and ramp up on financial transparency. We have used it (feedback) to try and help educate."In asking voters to pass an MLO, the administrator said, "We want to make sure we get consistent information out there. The piece that we need to get better at is trying to get into some of our retirement places and clear up misconceptions that our senior citizens have because they are the ones that get out and vote."Other discussion involved forming selling and talking points for a successful MLO, visiting with area organizations, and creating a Facebook page.Assisting the committee form the MLO question for the ballot will be the firm of George K. Baum & Company of Denver. The question then will be presented to the Brush BOE at its May 20th meeting to meet an August deadline of submitting the question for the mail-in ballot, which is scheduled to go out to voters on October 14.Serving on the MLO Committee are Doug Crandall as chairman, Dan Kendrick and Kevin Hansen as co-chairs, Lisa Uhrig as secretary and Denise Trujillo as treasurer.The committee will meet on May 13 at 7 p.m. at the district office.

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